Chapter 12.
Jessica's Point Of View.
I slowly open my eyes and to my surprise I was in my bedroom. I was sure that I fell asleep on the living room couch while Michael was in some kind of trance. I get up from the bed and look around the room. I was all alone and I was starting to worry about Michael. What if he left and he would never come back? I try to shake away the feeling and go straight to the bathroom. I felt tired even when I slept through the night. I was worried sick about Michael. I didn't want him to leave! And I was too afraid to go check if he was there or not because I didn't know how I was going to react if he wasn't. I take a deep breath in and decide that I'll go to the living room to see if he was still sitting there. And if not at least I still had Timmy with me and he's all I need. But the thought that the silent man wasn't here any more made me feel powerless. I walk to the kitchen but stop when I can smell smoke. I slowly peak around the corner and see that there was a plate that had some bacon and eggs on it but they seemed to be a little burned and mangled. I step in the kitchen but stop when Michael comes into view with a glass of water. I look at him dumbfounded but he put the glass next to the plate and then he points at the pate and then me. I just look at him but then feel tears form in my eyes. "Michael!" I whimper and run up to him. I wrap my arms around his form and give him a tight hug. I'm sure that it wouldn't hurt him so there was no worries. I press my ear against his chest to listen to his slow heartbeat. "I was so worried about you." I say to him but he just stands there. After what felt like forever I finally let him go. I send him another smile when he just looks at me. "Are you okay?" I ask him and after a while he nods. I look at the plate and smile at him. "Is that for me?" he nods again and I almost feel my heart melt at that. "Thank you Michael." I say to him but then I see Timmy sitting on the kitchen counter with another cat. I stop for a while to just look at the pair. The cat was dirty but it looked to be fine. "Where did you get a cat?" I ask Michael and he points at the woods. I look at the other cat and walk over to it. "Hi there little one." I say to it and offer my other hand so it can take a sniff. It presses its nose against my hand and takes a little sniff and a little smile makes its way across my lips when it starts to purr. "So you followed him home did you little one." I say to it and I try to lift it up. The cat only relaxes in my arms and I know that it's someone's pet. "Michael, I think it has an owner." I say to him but he shakes his head. "We need to try and find its owners. What if some little child misses their pet?" He stubbornly shakes his head. I look at the cat and sigh. "Listen. If its owners don't come and pick it up in fifteen days you can have it. But I have to take it to the vet so we know if something happened to it while it was gone from its owners." Michael nods at me so I think that he is happy for now. I put the cat down and go back over to the table. I can see that when the cat was walking it wasn't putting a lot of weight on its front left paw so that needed to be checked. "it's a cute little cat but I think that its a little too dirty so I have to give it a bath." I say to him but Michael points to the plate again. He really wanted me to eat it but I don't know anything about his cooking skills. But I don't want to be rude to him. "Did you eat already?" I ask and he nods still pointing at the plate. I take a seat and look at the food. It didn't look very appetizing but he did his best to make it for me and well he's still alive even if he ate it himself. I take the fork and take a small bite of them. They weren't as bad as I though. They tasted a little too salty and burned but it wasn't bad for his first time cooking something. "It's good. Thanks." I say to him and he seems to be pleased. He took his knife from the kitchen counter and puts it on the centre of the table. It had more blood on it than before and I felt a little uncomfortable. He sits on the opposite side of the table, looking at me silently. His eyes were glued on my every move as I finish the plate. When I finish, Michael took the plate and put it in the sink. I was a little taken back that he was like this now but that must be because of his episode yesterday. "My parents might come here today so you have to hide if they do." Michael nods as he walks over to the cats and picks them up. I look after him as he takes both of them to the living room and puts them down on the couch. He sits down next to them and stares at them. I was to the phone while looking at the trio. He found a cat in the middle of the woods and brought it here. I thought that it was awfully cute of him to do that.
I turn to look at Michael who seemed to be curious about the call. I gave him a little smile and shrug my shoulders. "We can take it to the vet tomorrow. The lady on the other end was pretty rude." I say as I walk over to the armchair and sit down. Suddenly he fists his hands and I can see that he was squeezing them hard because the veins in his hands pop into view. I knew that he was getting angry again. "But it's fine. I think she just had a bad day." I say to him, trying to assure to him that it was the reason why the woman was rude. His breathing was getting laboured again. I get up to make my way to him and I put my hand on his. "Michael, calm down. Everything is okay." He turns to look at me and I give him a little smile. "It's just life. Some people just express their anger towards others when they're mad. I know you understand that more than others." I put my hand to his shoulder to give it a little pat. He gives me a little nod. "How are you? Are the voices still speaking to you?" he looks at me and then nods again. He hangs his head to look at my hand while his other hand takes a hold of my wrist. "I'm sorry to hear that. Do you feel any better when you kill." he nods again while he lifts my hand off of his and looks at it. He was like a predator who needs to satisfy its urges. And it makes him feel better so I was allowing it for now. I couldn't take something from him that comes to him naturally. It wouldn't be fair. "Michael why do you wear that mask?" He slowly turns his head to look at me which makes me a little nervous. He slowly lifts my hand and pits it on his masked face. I look at him confused. He then lifts his other hand on my cheek. "Are you comfortable like that?" He nods and slides his hand behind my head. I look into those deep blue eyes and they were almost inviting. They brought more mystery to him. I hear a meow next to us and I shift my eyes on them. The other cat was looking at us and I think it's time to give it a little bath. "I have to give the other cat a bath." I try to pull away from him but Michael keeps me in place. He leans towards my face and I feel a little anxious because of the closeness. The feeling turns to something completely different when the mask's lips touch mine. I was a little shocked about the touch.
His breathing was laboured again but this time he pulls me to his lap roughly. I yelp in surprise when he wraps his arms around me and he keeps me in place. I stop when I feel him harden under me and I start to panic, trying to break free from his hold. I hadn't done anything like that before and his laboured breathing was a little scary to me. I didn't know what was going to happen next but I didn't want to find out so I needed to have a plan. "Michael, wait!" I say as I push his shoulder a little harshly. When I push him hard enough he lets out a faint growl. I turn my head to look at him but his eyes were glaring sharply at me. I put my hand on his cheek and give him a little smile to calm him down. "Now is not the time. Can we try that another time? Please?" I ask him and he only looks at me for a while. I put my hand on his shoulder to give it a little rub. "You can help me clean your cat." He looks at me a little surprised. "You found the cat and if no one comes to pick it up it's yours." When I end that sentence he turns to look at the cat who was playing with Timmy's tail. I feel his excitement go away under me after what felt like forever and I was relieved. I get off of him as he was still looking at the cat. "Come on. I'll teach you how to do it." I sat to him and pick up the cat next to him. He gets up from the couch and started to follow me to the bathroom. He seems to be a little excited in his own little way. But I get excited too when I can spend some time with Timmy. When we get in the bathroom, I put the cat down next to me and walk over to the bathtub. I start to fill it with warm water. I only put a little bit of water in so it wouldn't have to swim around but only stand in it. "Can you get a towel and the cat shampoo from that cabinet?" I say to him and he does what I say. He gives them to me and I give him a little thank you. I take the cat and put it in the water. Michael looks at me as I kneel down next to the tub and turn to look at him. "Come here." I say to him and he kneels next to me. "Cat's don't usually need baths because they clean themselves. But if they're dirty enough, it's okay." I start to pour some water on it and thankfully the cat isn't afraid of water. It starts to purr when I start to rub its fur to clean it. "Try it but remember be gentle." I lift my hands away. He looks at me for a while but then he reached his hand out to pet the cat. I take the cat shampoo when he started to pour some of the water on it and I pour the shampoo on the dirty cat. "Wash its fur but avoid its face and ears so you don't get any soap in them." He doesn't answer but he seems to do what I said. It was cute that he was taking care of something rather than killing it. I'm sure that having a companion is good for him. At least I feel a little less stressed when I am with Timmy. After he washes the soap away from its fur I pick it up and wrap the towel around it to dry its fur. "Should we take a look if its a boy or a girl?" Michael nods and I put the cat down. I turn it around and take a look. "And we have a girl!" I say excitedly to him with a smile and start drying the cat. Michael just stare at me while I dry the cat the best I can. I hand her over to Michael with a smile. "We can get another cat if her owners come and pick her up." Michael shakes his head as he pets the cats jaw. He really likes the cat and I really hope that her owners wouldn't pick her up for Michael's sake. I wouldn't like him to kill her owners because they came here to take her back. I start to empty the tub but then I feel Michael put his hand on my shoulder, making me turn to look at him. He slides his hand down my back and holds it there while the masks empty eyes sockets were looking at me. "Are you okay?" I ask him but he looks at me silently without doing anything else. I take the plug from the bottom of the tub to empty it while looking at Michael. He suddenly get up from the floor and handed me the car. He started to walk away while the cat and I look at each other. What was going on with him. Was he offended by something I did or did he want to do something by himself? I get up from the floor and decide to go to the living room but stop at the sight. Timmy was looking outside towards the neighbouring family's yard but Michael was standing right next to him. I start to panic because if they see him looking at them from my house, all hell is going to break loose. "Michael! Don't stand there! They will see you!" I say to him and quickly put down the cat on the armchair. When Timmy sees that I put the cat down, he jumped down to join her on the armchair. Michael looks at me when I walk over to pull him away. He takes a hold on my neck and turns me towards the window. I look outside to see that the family was outside playing and running around. But then I noticed that Tommy was looking toward my house every once in a while. I felt a shiver run down my spine and I pull the curtain shut again. "I don't like him. He's creepy." I say to him but then I notice the irony in this. I was living with a silent murderer and I was more afraid of my neighbour than him. Michael was looking at me when I turned towards him and I could sense that he was angry, "Just ignore him. I'll make sure to build a tall fence around this house so you can go to the back garden during the day if you want to. That old one is too short for my comfort." I walk to the couch and sit down on it. Michael approaches me and he takes a seat next to me. Timmy and the other cat were sleeping next to each other on the armchair. I smile at them because they looked so cute together and I really hoped that no one came to pick her up. I just needed to inform the local shelter that there was a stray cat in my care so they could try to find her owner. Suddenly I feel weight on my lap and I shift my gaze down to see that Michael was resting his masked head on my lap while the rest of him was laying on the couch. I guess he was returning the favour from last night. I smile and run my fingers through his mask's hair. I hated that he needed to use a mask to feel comfortable but I guess he wanted to hide his identity from his prey. I close my eyes and start to hum some song to relax. He wasn't moving a muscle as he was relaxing under my touch. I stop for a while to see how he would react but he only lays there. I smile and reach over to the coffee table to take one of the magazines that had some info about gardening. I was thinking about making a pretty garden next spring to have something to do outside. I hope that Michael doesn't mind if I read while he lays there. I try to avoid putting the magazine right to his face so I wouldn't piss him off. After a while Michael suddenly turns from his back to his side to face me. He moves his head a couple of times to get it in a more comfortable position. He was adorable to me! I feel a smile make it was across my lips as I put my other hand on his shoulder to give it a gentle rub. He seemed to be out still and I was glad that he was sleeping. I'm sure that he was tired because of lack of sleep but I really don't know if he has had a good night sleep since he escaped. Or even if he ever had a good sleep at the hospital at all. I hear him take a deep breath in and I moved his head again. I was starting to think that I should just lift his head to put it on a pillow but then he goes still again. I look at his relaxed body which was built strong. It was almost unreal how vulnerable he looked to be right now but I know that he was aware of his surroundings. I put the magazine back down and decide to relax while I wait for him to wake up.
I don't know how long I was petting his mask's hair but I was enjoying spending some time with him. Suddenly Michael turns his head to look at me and I could see that he was sensing something. "What?" I ask but he sits up, making his warmth leave my clothes. I try to stand up from the couch but he takes a hold of my jaw and turns my head to look at him. I look at him in confusion but he brings his index finger in front of the mask's lips and I understand to be quiet. I sit still as he lets go of my jaw and gets up from the couch. He walks quietly to the kitchen and he takes the knife from the table. He turns to walk to the hallway and turns to look at me. He shakes his head and I look at him even more confused. What the hell was he doing? He opened the storage room door and gets inside, closing the door behind himself. I turn to look at the cats and they seem to be alarmed too. I get up from the couch to go and ask Michael what he was doing. That's when there was a loud bang on the front door. I jump and almost had a heart attack while the other cat jumped from the armchair and ran under the couch to hide. I look at Timmy who had a death stare on his face. There was another bang on the door and I start to make my way there. I look in the kitchen and see that the table had a little bit of blood on it. I ignore it for now because I wasn't letting anyone inside the house anyway so I have time to do that. I open door after there was another pair of loud knocks. "What?" I ask but stop out of shock. "Thank God you are okay!" My mother yelled out loudly. My parents were standing there with a big suitcase. My father looked to be angry but then he seemed to be a little relieved when his eyes land on me. "Mom? Dad? You really came here." I say to them, still not believing that they really travelled this far. "Of course we are here for you. We couldn't let you be alone when that psychopath beast is roaming around freely!" Dad says as he gives me a tight hug. I feel a little emotional because I was relieved to see them but I really needed them to go or not be here too long. "But really I'm fine. There is nothing to be worried about." I say to them but they don't seem to believe me. "So are you going to let us come in?" My dad asked and I feel my blood turn cold. I don't know what to do!